Former African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Tony Yengeni’s decision to quit Parliament was the correct action to take, the ANC said on Wednesday.
A brief statement issued from the party’s headquarters in Johannesburg said: ”The African National Congress welcomes the decision by Tony Yengeni to resign as a Member of Parliament.
”This is the correct action for him to take under the circumstances.”
Yengeni’s decision to quit follows ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe’s public call for him to do the honourable thing and resign.
It also follows an earlier call by National Assembly Speaker Dr Frene Ginwala that he should do so as he had lied to Parliament.
In an interview published on Wednesday in the Sowetan newspaper, Motlanthe dismissed any suggestion that Yengeni would be deployed to work for the party in another position.
It was not clear whether Yengeni would remain a member of the party’s national executive committee, or serve on the party’s special task team on the Eastern Cape.
Motlanthe said that once Yengeni was sentenced for fraud on March 19, the matter would be referred to the ANC’s national disciplinary committee headed by Kader Asmal.
The ANC in Parliament indicated earlier on Wednesday that it would still move a draft resolution at the National Assembly’s sitting later in the day calling for a special multi-party committee to be set up to deal with Yengeni’s apparent misleading of Parliament.
The establishment of the committee was possible even if Yengeni was not a MP, as it was necessary for Parliament to show how seriously it regarded any attempt to mislead the institution, Sapa was told by ANC officials.
In a special statement to the Assembly on March 28 last year, Yengeni protested his innocence and claimed he had legitimately purchased a 4×4 luxury vehicle.
However, after standing trial on corruption charges last month, he pleaded guilty to fraud, and admitted he received a 47% discount on the vehicle from the head of a company involved in the arms deal.
He also acknowledged that his misrepresentation was made with the intent to defraud Parliament.
Disgraced former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni’s resignation from Parliament was welcomed by opposition parties on Wednesday, with the New National Party (NNP) stating that good sense and decent standards had won the day among the ANC’s leadership.
In its reaction, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) said Yengeni’s resignation was long overdue.
”It is a pity that the whole Yengeni saga took so much of Parliament’s time and effort, and had to blemish the institution’s credibility before it was resolved,” UDM president Bantu Holomisa said in a statement.
The matter should serve as a lesson to other MPs that it was a serious offence to mislead Parliament.
However, the UDM was disappointed that it was only ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and National Assembly speaker Dr Frene Ginwala who had the guts within the ruling party to call for Yengeni’s resignation.
The majority of ANC MPs who were supposed to be the custodians of accountability had refused to speak out, Holomisa said.
NNP justice spokeswoman Sheila Camerer said ”fortunately decent standards and good sense have won the day among ANC leaders”.
Motlanthe had delivered a strong hint that even someone as thick-skinned as Yengeni had to take.
Camerer also congratulated Ginwala for her principled stand that Yengeni should quit.
It had preserved the integrity of the institution.
”The same cannot be said for Mr Yengeni’s parliamentary colleagues, who, even today, had placed a motion on the order paper suggesting the appointment of an ad hoc committee to go into Yengeni’s case and make recommendations regarding a possible sanction.
”This, when the High Court has found Mr Yengeni guilty of defrauding Parliament on the basis of his own admission. Fortunately this shameful move has been overtaken by events.”
Politicians who lied to Parliament had only one avenue and that was to quit the scene.
”The NNP would like to see this written into the rules,” Camerer said.
Meanwhile, ANC sources told Sapa the party’s National Executive Committee had taken a decision two weeks ago that Yengeni should resign, but that the timing had been the issue.
The party’s leadership was also considering whether Yengeni should resign his NEC post, as well as his position on the party’s Eastern Cape team.
It was felt that Parliament should not be seen to have a higher standard than the NEC.
In its reaction, the African Christian Democratic Party said Yengeni had done the honourable thing and saved the ANC from further embarrassment.
”What he did was unacceptable, and the way that the ANC rallied around him trying to defend his actions was indefensible,” party president Kenneth Meshoe said. ‒ Sapa